18/42
In 1950s Mexico City, an American immigrant in his forties lives an isolated life in a small American community. However, the arrival of a young student leads the man to finally make a meaningful connection with someone. Daniel Craig eventually convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey in the role after watching Guadagnino’s audition tapes and telling him “That’s him” upon seeing Starkey. William Lee: Get Up! Or What’s Left of It After Four Years in the Navy. On the Graham Norton Show: Daniel Craig/Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024). I’ve never seen Naked Lunch (1991), but I thought of it often during the screening of Queer at the 2024 London Film Festival: perhaps that’s to be expected, since William S. Burroughs provided the source material for both films. In 1950s Mexico, William Lee, an American writer in his… early forties? Fifties? He spends his days drinking, doing drugs, and having casual sex with other men. One day, a muscular, intelligent, and handsome young man named Eugene walks into a bar and Lee falls in love. But what does Eugene himself want? Plus, there’s that telepathic drug thing to think about… I’m not sure what director Luca Guadagnino is trying to achieve stylistically with this film. The sets are done almost exclusively in bright colors—like dull reds and olive greens—and have that clean, colorful, vaguely unrealistic look that made me think the film was created to pay homage to the movies of the era in which it’s set. But if that’s the case, why not a 1950s rock and techno soundtrack? Daniel Craig (is it just me, or is he starting to sound like Sid James?) is stilted in the lead role, constantly reciting nonsensical speeches in an accent that’s clearly not his own. Drew Starkey manages to give a more nuanced performance as the manipulative Eugene, and he certainly comes across as a stilted guy. Leslie Manville is unrecognizable as a doctor living in the South American jungle—kudos to the makeup artists! This is the kind of movie that impresses me more for its artistic style than its narrative content. I was able to watch it once, but I won’t watch it again.